Seasons: Fall 2020 Welcome

Photo courtesy of Paul Newson

“Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.”

– Thomas Berry, historian

Welcome!

It is hard for me to realize that 5 years ago I agreed to step into the position of executive director. It was to be only for a year. Time has a habit of flying by. Fast forward to now.

You are reading the inaugural issue of Seasons, a quarterly “e-zine” that we hope will keep you connected with what’s going on at Cylburn. If any good could come from Covid-19, it unfolded over the last 6 months: more of our friends and neighbors sought solace from the uncertainty of the times. Cylburn could provide a peaceful place of beauty, a refuge from the daily routine, a garden where people could walk the paths, the trails, the grounds.

Intimacy with nature was dished up in huge servings and the miraculous change of seasons was there for the observation, firsthand.

In this issue, we introduce our exciting new project. The Carriage House and Nature Museum will morph into the Nature Education Center, with the underlying theme, Discovering the Hidden World. Our hope is to enable children of all ages to see the outside world from a different perspective. The Center, located at the threshold of cultivated and wild, offers the perfect vantage point to compare the result of managed landscape with the hands-off, natural growth of the surrounding forest.

We hope you will invite us into your regular reading material and not be a stranger. Exciting things are going on at Cylburn. Come for a visit and see for yourself.

Patricia Foster, Executive Director Cylburn Arboretum Friends